Five of the accused are already on trial in a hastily-established fast-track court. A sixth accused, who is a minor, is being tried in a juvenile court.

But six years since Mr Paras was first charged, his case has neither been prosecuted nor dismissed.

Not unusual

The outcry over the Delhi gang rape has prompted a wider backlash against the old order, and the number of Indian politicians allowed to remain in office while facing serious charges is under the spotlight again.

Mr Paras' case is far from unusual.

CRIME FACTS

1,448 of India's 4,835 MPs and state legislators have declared criminal cases

641 of these 1,448 are facing serious charges like murder, rape, kidnapping

44 of 206 Congress party MPs have declared criminal charges

6 legislators in state assemblies are facing rape charges

29 of 58 ministers in Uttar Pradesh state have criminal records

According to the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), a Delhi-based campaign group, a third of India's 4,835 elected representatives have declared criminal charges against them - many of them face serious cases like murder, rape and kidnapping.

The figures are based on information politicians themselves provide in their mandatory pre-election declarations.

Uttar Pradesh has more alleged criminals in its administration than any other state: Mr Paras is among 29 of 58 ministers charged with some kind of crime.

The state transport minister, Mehboob Ali, is charged with attempting to murder a rival politician, Nawshad Ali, last year.

He shows us the charge sheet drawn up by police, called FIR (first information report) in India.

But the minister disputes whether he has been charged.

"Maybe there is a complaint in a court or a police station," he says. "Maybe after an investigation, it might be found to be untrue."

On his election declaration, he has admitted to other past attempted murder charges, as well as kidnapping and robbery.

So far, there has been no progress in any of these cases.

Mr Paras says everyone in his Nagina constituency knows about his rape charge, insisting that it is "a conspiracy" fabricated by rivals.

That's possible in India's robust politics.

But it can be rare for women to press charges of rape - especially in rural areas like Nagina where tradition and caste govern life.

Many do not even report an assault because of the fear they will be ostracised by their family and community.

'Tainted' politicians

However serious the charge, as long as a politician is not convicted, he or she can stay in office under Indian law.

They are helped by the overloaded justice system, where even minor cases can drag out.

Manoj Kumar Paras says the rape charge against him is a "conspiracy" by his rivals

But ADR's national coordinator Anil Bairwal says politicians can also use their position to delay their cases "not just for years, but decades".

Until India's courts try more politicians, Mr Bairwal says the "poison" will spread through the world's largest democracy.

When Uttar Pradesh's Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav took power last year, he pledged not to appoint "tainted" officials to his government. His office would not agree to an interview, despite repeated requests.

Parties need them to deliver votes, especially where religion and caste play such a key role.

Mr Ali has a proven track record at delivering votes from his fellow Muslims in his constituency, winning four elections in a row.

Mr Paras won by nearly 30,000 votes last year in Nagina, with a particular appeal among members of his Dalits or untouchable caste.

With a general election due in the next year, "India's democracy is in danger", warns Gopal Subramaniam, a former solicitor general and one of the authors of the Verma Commission report into the Delhi gang rape case.

Their report called on all politicians facing serious charges to resign - coming into line with many other democracies.

But Mr Paras rejects the idea of standing down: "Just charging someone is not enough, you have to wait until you are convicted."

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Muslim Terrorism Count

Mission Overview

Most Western societies are based on Secular Democracy, which itself is based on the concept that the open marketplace of ideas leads to the optimum government. Whilst that model has been very successful, it has defects. The 4 Freedoms address 4 of the principal vulnerabilities, and gives corrections to them.

At the moment, one of the main actors exploiting these defects, is Islam, so this site pays particular attention to that threat.

Islam, operating at the micro and macro levels, is unstoppable by individuals, hence: "It takes a nation to protect the nation". There is not enough time to fight all its attacks, nor to read them nor even to record them. So the members of 4F try to curate a representative subset of these events.

We hope that free nations will wake up to stop the threat, and force the separation of (Islamic) Church and State. This will also allow moderate Muslims to escape from their totalitarian political system.

The 4 Freedoms

These 4 freedoms are designed to close 4 vulnerabilities in Secular Democracy, by making them SP or Self-Protecting (see Hobbes's first law of nature). But Democracy also requires - in addition to the standard divisions of Executive, Legislature & Judiciary - a fourth body, Protector of the Open Society (POS), to monitor all its vulnerabilities (see also Popper). 1. SP Freedom of SpeechAny speech is allowed - except that advocating the end of these freedoms2. SP Freedom of ElectionAny party is allowed - except one advocating the end of these freedoms3. SP Freedom from Voter ImportationImmigration is allowed -except where that changes the political demography (this is electoral fraud)4. SP Freedom from Debt
The Central Bank is allowed to create debt - except where that debt burden can pass across a generation (25 years).

An additional Freedom from Religion is deducible if the law is applied equally to everyone:

Religious and cultural activities are exempt from legal oversight except where they intrude into the public sphere (Res Publica)"